It was October 9, 1955-opening day at Lions Drag trip in Wilmington, California. Mickey Thompson was the track manager and only paid employee. He and his all-volunteer staff had no idea what to expect. They were prepared to handle up to 2500 people and possibly 50 cars. But over 10,000 people came swarming through the dusty field and down to the track that day. The crowd had no patience with the incredibly long lines at the ticket booth. They simply dismantled what little fence there was and made their way down to the logs that served as seats. Of the 400 cars that showed up that day, over 25 percent had to be turned away, due to bald tires and generally unsafe condition. The P.A. system broke down. The portable toilets overflowed. The food supply ran out. The water, which had to be trucked in, ran out. The dust was unreal. The crowd piled right onto the track to watch the action. Pandemonium prevailed. In other words, opening day at Lions was an unqualified success.
Opening day at the track was the culmination of a year-long struggle to bring legalized drag racing to the Los Angeles area. That struggle had begun shortly after a Long Beach judge named Fred Miller became outraged at the increasing number of street racers appearing before his court. Judge Miller decided that something had to be done about the situation and committed his influence to the creation of a legal drag strip.
Miller arranged a meeting between Mickey Thompson and Eddie Baker, a member of a Long Beach area chapter of the Lions Club. They in turn got together with representatives of nine Los Angeles Harbor area Lions Club chapters and hashed out an agreement whereby the associated Lions Club chapters would raise the needed $45,000 capital to build a drag strip. The L.A. Harbor Commission then agreed to lease an unused railroad switching yard down by the harbor to the Lions Club on a 30-day revokable basis.
The new drag strip would be called Lions Associated Drag Strip (hence the old LADS term), and all profits from it would be donated through the Lions to charities helping the blind. Shortly after the agreement was reached, Mickey was out plowing up the old railroad yard and building the strip. But a snag soon developed. Seems the $45,000 raised by the Lions wasn't going to be enough. They were going to need more like $90,000. To solve the problem, the staff went ahead with the project, not telling anybody that they had long since run out of money. After all, who's going to question your credit when you've got the Lions Club, the Harbor Commission and a municipal judge backing you? Of course the track eventually became quite a financial success and all of the creditors were paid off within a two-year period of time.
That financial success was based upon the popularity of Saturday night "Date Night" racing at Lions. Master showman Mickey Thompson had lights installed in 1957 and attendance immediately doubled. Soon the Top Eliminator prize had gone from a $25 bond to a $1000 bond. Mickey no longer had to wait a week for his $75 paycheck and a complete paid staff had been hired.
Under Mickey's leadership the place continued to innovate. In addition to the introduction of night racing, Lions had some other "firsts." Like replacing the flag-waving starter with the now-standard "Christmas tree" starting light system. That original tree had only three lights in its sequence: one amber light for staging, one amber light for warning and one green/red for start/foul.
By the late Fifties Lions had become a legend. Being located right at sea level and within smelling distance of the ocean meant that the air at the strip was about as dense as air gets. The racers called it "rare air" since it was so different from that of any other strip. In addition to the dense air, the track had fantastic traction. Due to the air, the traction and the com petition, Lions was universally recognized as the world's fastest and quickest drag strip. And it was.
But most of all, the guys competing at Lions made the place the legend it was. Guys like Tom McEwen, who grew up in Long Beach, got their starts there. "Big John" Mazmanian and Stone, Woods & Cook fought it out for Gas class honors every Saturday night. Joe Mondello and Sush Matsubara were regulars, as was "TV Tommy" Ivo. Current Top Fuel stars Carl Olson and Jeb Allen practically grew up at the place, Allen coming there first at the tender age of seven. Add to these the names of Gary Gabelich, Greer-Black-Prudhomme, Stellings & Hampshire, Gene Mooneyham, Art and Jack Chris man, Don Moody, Frank Pedregon and Lou Baney and you get some idea of what Saturday night at Lions was like.
Mickey continued to run the track through its glory days until 1965, when he quit to devote himself full-time to his own business career. C.J. "Pappy" Hart moved in to replace him. Under Pappy's reign, the track continued to grow. In addition to a Top Fuel two-out-of-three match race, Hart presented an eight-car field in Top Fuel, Top Gas, Fuel Altered, Competition and Gas every Saturday night. It got to be so heavy that one day 72 Top Fuel dragsters show up to fight for that night's eight starting positions.
Under Hart, Junior Fuel, bracket and grudge racing were all invented. And under Hart that famous Lions traction improved. It improved with a series of coatings alternately called "Interdigitated Interlock," "Octo-Vise," and "Securabond." All these terms were invented by then publicity director Ralph Guldhal Jr., who admits that the best surface of all was the one stolen from the old San Gabriel strip when it closed down in 1963. They had actually gone to closing day at San Gabriel and brought a piece of the asphalt home with them to have it analyzed and reproduced.
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